Free Music Download

I was talking to Sebastian at church today and finally asked where I could get ahold of his CD's. He showed me where I could download some of his music for free. He's a worshipper and not in it for the money. He just wants to bless people.

He was playing the violin about a year ago when something really amazing happened. I had been praying and had this vision of Heaven (cool story--ask me about it sometime). When he started to play, I saw Jesus dancing. That experience changed who I am as a person, and I'm glad he was a part of it (though he didn't know until I told him today).

This is the website he gave me: www.reverbnation.com/heavenlysounds

Sebastian has a bio there if you want to learn more about him.

Sebastian's beautiful violin

SeaWorld

This is my family, grinning wildly at the antics of a sea lion and an otter. We went to all the shows and avoided the roller coasters.

Great Horizons show

It wouldn't be SeaWorld without dolphins. It was nice to escape to sunny Florida the week after Christmas.

Headless Shamu

My photographer didn't quite understand that the whole point of these touristy-type pictures is to get the giant whale behind us. Oh well...at least we look cute.

Shark Attack

I wasn't quick enough to catch him in action, but Mark scared the bejeebers out of Karly with this shark puppet. This is her fighting back, a full minute after the initial shock wore off.
Incidentally, I tried to convince the kids that we were going to swim with the sharks, but they wouldn't believe me. We saw trainers swim with killer whales, which are far more formidable, so it didn't seem like a far stretch.

FOOD!

Rachelle and her grandpa enjoy the yummy food at "Eat with Shamu." It was a fun behind the scenes look at SeaWorld and I recommend it.

SeaWorld, December 28th

Karly and I are eating dinner...and waiting for Shamu's grand entrance.

Rachelle and Mark at SeaWorld, with the penguin I won by playing Wack-a-Troll. I'm a pretty good troll wacker, believe it or not.

12 Days of Christmas, sillier version

My daughters and I like to play games in the car, primarily memory games.
We wrote this song, today (mostly Shelly, as you can probably tell).

I'll jump right to the last verse:

On the 12th day of Christmas, my mother gave to me
12 balloons a-popping
11 dogs a-barking
10 Chick-Fil-A cows
9 little Karly's (Karly wrote that one and Shelly protested, "but that's torture!")
8 broken pots
7 cats a hissing
6 expired coupons
5 lima beans
4 nasty chores
3 pinching crabs
2....socks
and a roll of duct tape to shut up Karly.

Shelly insisted that we share her song with "the world," so enjoy!

This is the most recent picture of my girls and me. Karly is on the left and Rachelle is in the middle. This was taken in August at my baby brother's wedding. I still can't believe he's all grown up (sniff, sniff).

Sharing poems I've written

Alyeska River
By Deanna Dambrose

The wind wove tangles in her hair
as she leaned against the railing of the bridge
watching the gray river race

against the stillness of mossy boulders
and damp, fallen trees. Then the water grew still
and she felt herself drifting. She opened her hand

and dropped a crumpled wad of memorized words.
It landed on a jagged rock, bouncing once,
before moving with the current.

The first letter he had ever written her—
gone. The next she folded into a paper airplane
and let it go, watching it roll in slow deliberate

swoops until it escaped under the bridge.
Each plane dove faster than the one before,
spiraling into the waters below.

She tossed the last into the open space
and they drifted and crackled like desiccated leaves.
She leaned forward in time

to see a river of paper barges migrating
downstream. She stood up straight
brushing her cheeks as she walked away.

Watching the Snow Fall

The sky is falling
as small cold stars
lose their grasp
of Heaven
and plummet, twisting—
reaching
with many fingers
to discover their own originality,
then failing,
are forced to cling
to the companionship of peers.

The Patient Abandons Poetic Therapy

Resolution: I will stop writing poetry
that makes me cry. Instead, I’ll write
about rainbows and puppies.

I will not sacrifice meaning
to create rhyme.
It sounds archaic, anyway.

I’ll write the grocery list,
and letters to my Grandmother.
Iambic verse is optional.

Puppies are cute, but they stink
and are impossible to train.
There’s a topic for my next sonnet:

the fragrance of urine on the rug.
It is time to stop pretending
that I write out of some inherent

talent. I steal my best ideas, anyway.
Somewhere, over the rainbow
the storm clouds gather.

New resolution: to no longer believe
in this foolish art of therapy.
Not even Sylvia Plath

could assuage her grief
in the written line, and some days
I am too depressed to try.

After a long night of writing...

Midnight Poems
by Deanna

They wake me with their heavy panting
and crowd me out of bed. Hissing,
they move across my skin

and I obey,
writing
until the voices slink away.

Another Poem

Guilt
by Deanna

The waves are angry tonight.
They rise in gray curls, spitting
white foam--creeping toward me.

Sand exfoliates my knees and palms
as the tugging surrounds me--
each wave sucking me deeper
into the grip of the mud.

The sky joins in, pelting me
with rain stones, growling.
My eyes close against the storm
as the waters above and below
roar the same conviction.

A game of mini golf at Virginia Beach

Karly humors me with a quick smile, but looks impatient to begin the game.

more golf at the beach

You can see the excitement in Rachelle's eyes moments after putting her first hole in one!

Our most recent family photo

This Father's Day, we went to Virginia Beach to visit Mark's Mom and Dad. This, of course, meant posing outside their condo for the yearly family photo.

Melody is cutest when fast asleep

After hours of attacking any and all moving objects, Melody fell asleep in Rachelle's arms.